Between control and uncertainty by Marta Wörner Sarabia

"Between control and uncertainty" is a practice-led research that combines the kinetic study of the body as a structure and the implementation of media and expanded choreography tools to de-pattern the conventional relationship between body and space in performative environments. Moreover, on a meta-level, the investigation reflects on the tension between control and uncertainty in the act of research itself. With the firm belief that the body has inherent philosophical and epistemological knowledge which can be activated by experiencing and observing movement, I embraced the challenge to name and contextualize that knowledge. This inquiry started from my fascination for the kinetics of the body and its ability to reorganize itself in comparison with other micro and macro structures that do not move that way, such a, for example, the microstructures of materials like metal, rocks or the macrostructures built by the geography of the city and the Port of Rotterdam. The interdisciplinary research addresses the dichotomy structure-destructure and its application and affections to the body. In this sense, the research proposes a tool for de-patterning the habitual relationship between the body of the performer and the external space and offers to the audience a door for de-patterning their relationship with performative spaces. The research has been framed under the inspirational umbrella of the idea of performing the Deleuzian concept of “becoming”, (deriving from the Latin verb “devenire” which means “coming down, falling in, arriving to”). The physical inquiry is focused on the action of “falling in”, "devenire". The exploration led to an articulated and defined set of physical and interdisciplinary exercises that are the core of the dance practice ‘falling in’. In concordance with the practice, the findings of this research can be seen as ways of controlling and ways of facilitating, allowing, provoking uncertainty within the choreographic practice-led research frame. This research artistically materialized in the performance Falling in. Notes on body space and matter premiered in 2019.

IMAGES OF THOUGHT.

Images of thought is a research tool developed during this research with the aim to capture the complexity of my movement practice in order to share it with others. The tool is based on the translation of my own and others experience of the practice to a sharable format that negotiates between the delimitation of words and the ungraspable potential of the movement language.

Images of thought, in this sense, is a tool to build a bridge between movement and language through the use of metaphors, that this time flourished as images of our thoughts, understanding thoughts as the result of the experience of thinking through the body.

Although these tools came from the urge to practice itself, they can be framed under the concept of Deleuze with the same name.

In Difference and Repetition, Deleuze describes the pre-thinking process as one determined by the dogmatic image of what thinking is. His proposal to this situation is not to build a new image but to think without one.

In my practice, the concept gets related to the thinking process carried out by the experience and observation of movement.

While the body is able to think and express through movement, I need a tool that allows me to capture in time that thinking process and flatten it in a delimited surface, first images, then words, in order to share it in different times and spaces with myself and others.

This necessity led me to the practice of these two different exercises:

Metaphorical images while falling in

Images of intuition.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Preparation

*These materials are convenient but not necessary for this practice:

Beamer, video-camera, wall or surface to project on, HDMI for connecting the beamer to the video-camera, small light, a homogeneous and neutral background of A3 size (it can be a wall, paper, table), a pen and a paper.

If you have access to those materials: place the camera in front of the homogeneous and neutral background. Light the space between the camera and the background with a small light. Then connect the beamer to the camera and project the live image onto the wall/projection surface.

If you do not have access to those materials, make sure you find a tool to enlarge the image of an object or material. It can be, for example, magnifying glasses, or you can discover another method. Also, have with you a pen and a paper.

Exercise

1. Let an object or piece of material, no larger than your hand closed, trigger your attention. Take it and keep it with you until you perform the rest of the exercise.

2. Place the object/piece of material in between camera and background in the ideal situation or in a place that is visible from different perspectives in your exercise space.

3. Observe the properties of that material through the enlarged imaged of the projection or the magnifying glasses.

Then move in relation to that material, without thinking about what kind of relationship is it. Then observe again. Reiterate observation and action as many

times as wanted.

4. Try to guess the relationship between your movement and the projected image. Are you imitating the properties of the material? Are you becoming that material in another way? Are you complementing the material? Are you moving in contrast to the material?

5. Move again while this question "hovers" over your body. Let the body dive in. Let the question be there while the body only attends its necessities and affinities.

6. Try to write on the paper a sentence that describes the underlying meaning of your action. It might be helpful to do it as the TITLE of your intervention.

Images of intuition.

Images of intuition is an attempt to grasp, as the name indicates, intuition during creative and artistic research processes.

The tool got developed at the end of this research when I became aware of the method I was using for my creative practice, related to the importance of the experience and observation of my closest space and environment during this and previous researches.

"Between control and uncertainty" started with the urge to relate my body as a structure to inorganic structures that do not move or relate to space the same way. Observing the micro-structure and external properties of different inorganic materials and comparing my body in a micro (cellular level) and macro level to matters as metal and concrete, was serving that urge.

However, I knew that those observations were not fulfilling visual or scientific urges but that they came from an urge to understand philosophical

concerns through the use of the #body, which had not been articulated yet.

The challenge then was to articulate what exactly I was researching around and what kind of philosophical and epistemological findings I was moving for, what was making me move.

This exercise, I do hope, is a tool to locate and name specific places of research universes for those who decide to move through affinities, with an always becoming research question.

Metaphorical images while #falling in.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE.

If you want to experience this tool, please, read the instructions below. Then go to the online space "Falling in. Practice space", there you will find the movement practice exercises guided by audio:

1. Prepare a paper or a surface with limits where you would like to leave a trace of the experience. Also, prepare something that allows you to leave a trace (pens, pencils, anything that can leave a mark)

2. Pick up and exercise and dive into its practice. (Do it)

3. When the exercise is finished, express into the paper/surface any physical or sensorial experience you had, if any. If any image poped-up in your head, you can also express it.

*It is important to distinguish here between images that poped-up in an associative manner and images you looked for. We worked with the first ones.

4. Give a time break before the next step. Minimum of a couple of hours.

5. Go back to the trace you left. Look at it. Perform the exercise again.

6. Did something change in your movement understanding, approach or experience? If yes, leave a trace again from that experience. If not, please write an e-mail to mwornersarabia@gmail.com, I would like to research further with you this situation.

Metaphorical images are translated expressions of the movement practice "#falling in", which landed in the frame of a paper.

They are made during the sessions of movement practice, right away after certain exercises or body experiences and right away before the next exercise. While the body is still warm and the thinking of the body is still resonating.

The images are made by the participants of the sessions and myself when I joined the practice.

This practice flourished in the context of the kinetic inquiry about the action of #falling in or embodying the Deleuzian concept of 'becoming'.

On the one hand, the tool serves for the communication of the practice with others and myself, as it builds a firm bridge for the gap in between what I, as a researcher, want to transmit and what is actually being transmitted. It has an informative function.

On the other hand, the tool serves to get closer to the articulation of the practice in words and in other formats.

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